System and method for displaying market information and order placement in an electronic trading environment

ABSTRACT

A system and method are provided for displaying a trading screen and placing an order in an electronic trading environment. The system and method may be used to assist a trader in selecting an item of interest, such as the inside market (best bid and best ask) to be displayed relative to a user configured location on the trading screen, such as the center of the trading screen. In a preferred embodiment, the inside market will stay located relative to center of the trading screen and the price levels associated to the inside market will move as the market conditions fluctuate. Other features and advantages are described herein.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/462,872, filed May 3, 2012, and issued on Jan. 1, 2013 asU.S. Pat. No. 8,346,656, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/164,947, filed on Jun. 21, 2011, and issued onJun. 5, 2012 as U.S. Pat. No. 8,195,562, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 12/914,347, filed Oct. 28, 2010, and issuedon Aug. 2, 2011 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,991,678, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/490,940, filed on Jun. 24, 2009, andissued on Dec. 7, 2010 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,848,990, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/321,831, filed Dec.29, 2005, and issued on Jul. 21, 2009 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,565,317. Theentire disclosure contents of these applications are herewithincorporated by reference into the present application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to electronic trading. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed towards a system andmethod for assisting a trader in placing orders and displaying marketinformation in an electronic trading environment.

BACKGROUND

An exchange is a central marketplace with established rules andregulations where buyers and sellers, referred to as traders, meet totrade. Some exchanges, referred to as open outcry exchanges, operateusing a trading floor where buyers and sellers physically meet on thefloor to trade. Other exchanges, referred to as electronic exchanges,operate by an electronic or telecommunications network. An electronicexchange typically provides computerized matching between traders. Someexample electronic exchanges include European Exchange (“Eurex”), LondonInternational Financial Futures and Options Exchange (“LIFFE”), ChicagoMercantile Exchange (“CME”), and Chicago Board of Trade (“CBOT”).

With respect to electronic exchanges, traders connect to an electronictrading platform by way of a communication link through their userterminals. Once connected, traders typically choose which tradeableobjects they wish to trade. As used herein, the term “tradeable object”refers to anything that can be traded with a quantity and/or price. Itincludes, but is not limited to, all types of traded events, goodsand/or financial products, which can include, for example, stocks,options, bonds, futures, currency, and warrants, as well as funds,derivatives and collections of the foregoing, and all types ofcommodities, such as grains, energy, and metals. The tradeable objectmay be “real,” such as products that are listed by an exchange fortrading, or “synthetic,” such as a combination of real products that iscreated by the user. A tradeable object could actually be a combinationof other tradeable objects, such as a class of tradeable objects.

User terminals (also referred to as client devices) are connected to theelectronic trading platform by way of a communication link to facilitateelectronic messaging between the trading entities and the exchange. Themessaging includes market information that is distributed from theelectronic exchange to traders, as well as orders, quotes,acknowledgements, fills, cancels, deletes, cancel and replace, and otherwell-known financial transaction messages. Although the amount or typeof market information published by the exchange often differs, there aresome standard pieces of information. For instance, market informationusually includes the inside market, which generally refers to thecurrent lowest sell price (also referred to as the best ask) and thecurrent highest buy price (also referred to as the best bid). Marketinformation may also include market depth, which generally refers toquantities available in the market at the price levels other than thosecorresponding to the inside market. In addition to providing order bookinformation including order price and quantity information, electronicexchanges can offer other types of market information such as the openprice, settlement price, net change, volume, last traded price, lasttraded quantity, and order fill information.

Once the client device receives the market information, it may bedisplayed on the trading screen. Upon viewing the market information,traders can take certain actions including the actions of sending buy orsell orders to the electronic exchange, adjusting existing orders,deleting orders, or otherwise managing orders. There are a variety ofdifferent order types that a trader can enter in the electronic market.Traders may also use software tools to automate these and additionalactions.

To profit in today's rapidly moving markets, traders must be able toreact quickly and assimilate enormous amounts of data. For example, atrader may wish to review market data, world news, business news, and soon before making trades. Consequently, the trading screen and the toolsprovided to the trader via a trading screen are extremely important whentrading in an electronic trading environment and should reflect atrader's preference or style of trading. Depending on the preference orstyle of trading, some trading screens are better suited than others.

A conventional market grid window displays the inside market and themarket depth of a given commodity in a traditional manner. Specifically,the market grid window displays a first row which contains the insidemarket information. Typically, the first set of columns of the first rowcontains the best bid price and quantity, while the second set ofcolumns of the first row contains the best ask price and quantity. Andif so desired, the market grid window can also display market depthunder the first row. For instance, the bid side market depth isdisplayed under the best bid price in the first column and the ask sidemarket depth is displayed under the best ask price in the second column.The columns are displayed vertically such that the bid and ask pricesdescend the grid. The bid prices descend the market grid as the pricesdecrease and the ask prices also descend the market grid while theprices actually increase.

An advantage of the conventional market grid window is that bydisplaying the inside market on a single row, many tradeable objects canbe displayed on a single screen. Another advantage of the market gridwindow is that the inside market is always in view in the first row,even if the market is moving up or down in value. It should beunderstood that the term “market” can refer to the inside market or thelast traded price (“LTP”). Unfortunately, displaying the market on asingle row makes trading in a fast moving market much more difficult totrack. Additionally, the ask prices descend the market grid. Therefore,this screen lacks the intuitiveness required to watch the market flow inup or down directions.

Other trading screens flip the ask side column and place it on top ofthe bid side column. The advantage of this screen is that the insidemarket still remains in the center and the ask prices now ascend themarket grid as the prices increase, thereby correcting one of thedisadvantages of the previous screen. However, this type of tradingscreen still suffers the same disadvantage as its predecessor, namely,that it can still be difficult to view the flow of the market.

Some other trading screens provide an axis of prices in which quantitiesmay be displayed along side their prices. As the market moves up or downin value, the trader may view the bid and ask indicators as they moverelative to the price axis to provide an intuitive view of the market.While there are some tools to keep the market in view (e.g., providing are-centering option and so on), this type of trading screen can let themarket “run away,” when the market shifts so rapidly that it disappearsfrom the visible space of the trading screen.

Other trading screens might use an axis of prices, but slowly shift theprice axis such that the market is moved back to a user configuredlocation on the screen as the market fluctuates. However, this shiftingcan actually misrepresent the current flow and condition of the market.For example, as the trading screen slowly shifts the inside market downto a user configured location, the current condition of the market couldactually be going up and the trader would not know. Similarly, as thetrading screen slowly shifts the inside market up to a user configuredlocation, the current condition of the market could actually be goingdown. Shifting the market back to a user configured location on thetrading screen—sometimes shifting in the proper direction with themarket and sometimes shifting opposite of the market—can beunpredictable and may lead to confusion.

Each trading screen has its advantages and its disadvantages, dependingon the trader's preference and style of trading. It is thereforedesirable to offer traders alternative style trading displays that maybe more in tune to their preference or style of trading.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

Many aspects of the present embodiments may be better understood withreference to the following drawings. The components in the drawings arenot necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed uponillustrative example embodiments:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a trading system for electronictrading according to an example embodiment, where the trading systemincludes a trading station where a trader can submit bids and offers fora tradeable object being traded at an electronic exchange;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a trading system for electronictrading that builds on the trading system shown in FIG. 1 and includes atrading station where a trader can submit bids and offers for atradeable object being traded at more than one electronic exchange;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating various components of an exampletrading station a trader can use to submit bids and offers for atradeable object being traded at one or more electronic exchange;

FIG. 4 is an example view of a trading screen with multiple user-placedprice movement indicators;

FIG. 5 is an example view of the trading screen with multipleuser-placed price movement indicators after the market has moved fromthe location shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is an example view of the trading screen where a gap between theinside market prices is collapsed;

FIG. 7 is an example view of the trading screen showing the gap betweenthe inside market prices; and

FIG. 8 is an alternative view of the trading screen where there is a gapin the inside market.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION I. Overview

The present application describes example embodiments that include amethod, system for use in displaying market data on a trading screen andplacing an order using the trading screen in an electronic exchange. Theexample trading screen displays the market in a center position (or nearthe center position) so that the market and price levels around themarket can be easily found while still maintaining an intuitive view ofthe market.

To provide an intuitive view of the market, indicators are used tohighlight movement of a value axis. While the market remains centered,the value axis is shown to move relative to the static display of themarket. In other words, the market is fixed and according to themarket's frame of reference, the value axis is shown to move up or downthrough the use of indicators, depending on the market's movement.

The example embodiments can be employed to effectively and efficientlyplace an order in an electronic exchange while overcoming some of thedisadvantages of trading screens currently offered to traders. Theexample embodiment allows a trader to place an order without having aproblem of the market “running away.” Thus, the trader can easily placean order at the market or at prices around the market. Additionally,through the use of market indicators it will be more predictable andapparent to the trader in which direction the market is moving.

While the example embodiments are described herein with reference to theillustrative embodiments for particular applications, it should beunderstood that the example embodiments are not limited thereto. Othersystems, methods, features, and advantages of the present embodimentswill be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examinationof the following drawings and description. It is intended that all suchadditional systems, methods, features, and advantages be within thescope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanyingclaims.

II. A First Example Trading System

FIG. 1 illustrates an example electronic trading system in which theexample embodiments described herein may be employed. In this example,the system comprises a trading station 102 that accesses an electronicexchange 104 through a gateway 106. Router 108 is used to route messagesbetween the gateway 106 and the electronic exchange 104. The electronicexchange 104 includes a computer process (e.g., the central computer)that matches buy and sell orders sent from the trading station 102 withorders from other trading stations (not shown). The electronic exchange104 may list one or more tradeable objects for trade. While not shown inthe figure for the sake of clarity, the trading system may include otherdevices that are specific to the client site like middleware andsecurity measures such as firewall, hubs, security managers, and so on,as understood by a person skilled in the art.

The computer employed as the trading station 102 generally can rangefrom a hand-held device, laptop, or personal computer to a largercomputer such as a workstation and multiprocessor. Generally, thetrading station 102 includes a monitor (or any other output device) andan input device, such as a keyboard and/or a two or three-button mouseto support click based trading, if so desired. One skilled in the art ofcomputer systems will understand that the present example embodimentsare not limited to any particular class or model of computer employedfor the trading station 102 and will be able to select an appropriatesystem.

The computer employed as the gateway 106 generally can range from apersonal computer to a larger computer. Generally, the gateway 106 mayadditionally include a monitor (or any other output device), inputdevice (for example, a keyboard, mouse, etc.), and access to a database,if so desired. One skilled in the art of computer systems will alsounderstand that the present example embodiments are not limited to anyparticular class or model of computer(s) employed for the gateway 106and will be able to select an appropriate system.

It should be noted that a computer system that may be employed here as atrading station or a gateway generally includes a central processingunit, a memory unit (a primary and/or secondary memory unit), an inputinterface for receiving data from a communications network, an inputinterface for receiving input signals from one or more input devices(for example, a keyboard, mouse, etc.), and an output interface forcommunications with an output device (for example, a monitor). A systembus or an equivalent system may provide communications between thesevarious elements.

It should also be noted that the trading station 102 generally executesapplication programs resident at the trading station 102 under thecontrol of the operating system of the trading station 102. Also, thegateway 106 executes application programs resident at the gateway 106under the control of the operating system of the gateway 106. In otherembodiments and as understood by a person skilled in the art, thefunction of the application programs at the trading station 102 may beperformed by the gateway 106, and likewise, the function of theapplication programs at the gateway 106 may be performed by the tradingstation 102.

The actual electronic trading system configurations are numerous, and aperson skilled in the art of electronic trading systems would be able toconstruct a suitable network configuration. For the purposes ofillustration, some example configurations are provided to illustratewhere the elements may be physically located and how they might beconnected to form an electronic trading system; these illustrations aremeant to be helpful to the reader and they are not meant to be limiting.According to one example illustration, the gateway device may be locatedat the client site along with the trading station, which is usuallyremote from the matching process at the electronic exchange. Accordingto this instance, the trading station, the gateway, and the router maycommunicate over a local area network, and the router may communicatewith the matching process at the electronic exchange over a T1, T3,ISDN, or some other high speed connection.

In another example illustration, the client site may be located on theactual grounds of the electronic exchange (for example, in the buildingof the exchange). According to this example illustration, the tradingstation 102, the gateway 106, and the router 108 may still communicateover a local area network, but the router 108 may communicate with thematching process at the electronic exchange through another connectionmeans besides a T1, T3, or ISDN.

In yet another example illustration, the gateway 106 may be housed at,or near, its corresponding electronic exchange 104. According to thisinstance, the trading station 102 may communicate with the gateway 106over a wide area network or through the use of a T1, T3, ISDN, or someother high speed connection.

In another example illustration, the gateway 106 may be located remotefrom the trading station 102 and remote from the electronic exchange104, which might be particularly useful in systems that includeinterconnection of multiple trading networks. Thus, one trading networkmight have gateway access to an electronic exchange. Then, other tradingnetworks may communicate with the trading network that has gatewayaccess through a T1, T3, ISDN, or some other high speed connection.

III. A Second Example Trading System

FIG. 2 illustrates another example trading system that uses similarcomputer elements as shown in FIG. 1, in which, the example embodimentsdescribed herein may be employed to trade at multiple electronicexchanges. The system comprises a trading station 202 that can accessmultiple electronic exchanges 204 and 208. In this particularembodiment, electronic exchange 204 is accessed through gateway 206 andelectronic exchange 208 is accessed through another gateway 210.Alternatively, a single gateway may be programmed to handle more thanone electronic exchange. Router 212 is used to route messages betweenthe gateways 206 and 210 and the electronic exchanges 204 and 208. Whilenot shown in the figure, the system may include other devices that arespecific to the client site like middleware and security measures likefirewalls, hubs, security managers, and so on, as understood by a personskilled in the art. Additional electronic exchanges may be added to thesystem so that the trader can trade at any number of exchanges, if sodesired.

The trading system presented in FIG. 2 provides the trader with theopportunity to trade tradeable objects listed at different electronicexchanges. To some traders, there can be many advantages with amulti-exchange trading environment. For example, a trader could viewmarket information from each tradeable object through one common visualdisplay. As such, price and quantity information from the two separateexchanges may be presented together so that the trader can view bothmarkets simultaneously in the same window.

As indicated earlier, one skilled in the art of electronic tradingsystems will understand that the present embodiments are not limited tothe particular configurations illustrated and described with respect toFIG. 1 and FIG. 2, and will be able to design a particular electronictrading system based on the specific requirements (for example, byadding additional exchanges, gateways, trading stations, routers, orother computers serving various functions like message handling andsecurity). Additionally, several networks, like either of the networksshown in FIG. 1 or FIG. 2, may be linked together to communicativelyaccess one or more electronic exchanges.

IV. An Example Trading System and Function

FIG. 3 illustrates an overview of a trading station 300 which is similarto the type of trading stations 102 and 202 shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.Trading station 300 can be any particular type of computing device,examples of which were enumerated above. According to one exampleembodiment, trading station 300 has a trading application 302 stored inmemory that when executed arranges and displays market information on atrading screen that will be described in greater detail below.

Preferably, trading application 302 has access to market informationfrom one or more exchanges 310 through API 304 (or applicationprogramming interface), and trading application 302 can also forwardtransaction information to exchange 310 via API 304. Alternatively, API304 could be distributed so that a portion of the API rests on thetrading station 300 and a gateway similar to the type of gateways 106,206, and 210 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, or at the exchange 310.Additionally, trading application 302 may receive signals from inputdevice 312 via input device interface 306 and can be given the abilityto send signals to display device 314 via display device interface 308.

Alternatively, the example embodiments described herein may be aseparate program from trading application 302, but still stored inmemory and executed on the trading station 300. In another alternativeembodiment, the preferred embodiments may be a program stored in memoryand executed on a device other than trading station 300. Example devicesmay include a gateway or some other well known intermediary device.

The trading station 300 may use software that creates the trading screenon the trading station 300. The trading screen enables the user to enterand execute orders, obtain market quotes, and monitor positions. Therange and quality of features available to the trader on his or hertrading screens varies according to the specific software applicationbeing run. Example trading screens will be described below in referenceto the subsequent figures.

V. View of an Example Trading Screen

FIG. 4 is an example view of a trading screen 400 with multipleuser-placed price movement indicators. Trading screen 400 includes avalue axis 402 that indicates values representing prices or some otherderivative of price, such as yield, determined for the tradeable object.The prices or some other derivatives of price for the tradeable objectare determined based on market data of the tradeable object. While thevalues are displayed along a vertically oriented axis, the values may bedisplayed along a horizontally oriented axis or along an axis positionedat some other angle. Once the value axis 402 is generated, quantity andprice information contained in the market data feeds corresponding tothe tradeable object is received. The received market data is then usedto populate the trading screen display against the value axis 402. Asnew quantity and price information arrive from the electronic exchange,the trading screen 400 is preferably updated to reflect any marketchanges.

The trading screen 400 also includes a bid quantity column 404 and anask quantity column 406 that display bid and ask quantity indicators,respectively. The bid and ask quantity indicators are displayed in thelocations that correspond to their respective value or price levelsalong the value axis 402. The best bid and best ask quantity indicatorsare kept centered on the trading screen 400 by moving the prices of thevalue axis 402. By looking at the trading screen 400, the trader canquickly locate the inside market, which as mentioned earlier, refers tothe highest bid price (best bid) and the lowest ask price (best ask),and in trading screen 400 shown in FIG. 4 corresponds to the prices of“32” and “33” respectively. Further, using the trading screen 400, atrader can view how much quantity is available at various price levels.For example, following the best bid and the best ask, there is a bidquantity of 77 at the price level of “31”, and an ask quantity of 29 atthe price level of “34”. Other levels of market depth are also shown, asillustrated in FIG. 4.

The trading screen 400 also shows additional parameters, such as aworking quantity column 408 that illustrates a trader's working ordericons. For instance, a working buy order indicator 410 is shown havingan order quantity of 10 at the price level of “30”. A last tradedquantity column 412 is also displayed, which includes the last tradedquantity indicator 414 corresponding to the quantity of 5 that wastraded at a price level of “35”. In addition to the indicators describedabove, the trading screen 400 includes a default quantity field 416, anumber of quantity selection icons 418, a clear all “CLR” icon 420, adelete all order “Del All” icon 422, and market movement indicators 424and 426. It should be understood that additional indicators could beprovided in relation to trading screen 400, and what is actually shownin trading screen 400 may be user configurable.

In the example embodiment, a trader configures the trading screen todisplay the market in a center position (or near center position) andprice movement indicators so that the market and price levels around themarket can be easily found and market movement identified. As the marketconditions of the tradeable object change, the current best bid and askquantity indicators remain displayed at the center position (or nearcenter position), such as shown in FIG. 4, while the value axis 402 willmove up or down to maintain the market in the center of the screen.Also, the bid and ask quantity values, which correspond to the currentinside market, can dynamically change to reflect the current marketcondition of the tradeable object. It should be understood that thetrading screen could be configured to display the market at any locationon the trading screen, such as the center, off-center, or some otherlocation on the trading screen 400.

As shown in trading screen 400 in FIG. 4, by using a mouse or keyboardinput device, the trader has selected price level “30” associated to abid quantity of “23,” price level “35” associated to an ask quantity of“56,” and price level “40” with an ask quantity of “38” to be used as aprice movement indicators. Using the user-selected price movementindicators associated with the price levels of “30”, “35”, and “40” asreference points, the trader can easily recognize and monitor market orprice level movements. The price movement indicators are displayed insuch a way that the trader can easily differentiate between the selectedprice levels and the non-selected price levels. Preferably, the pricemovement indicators can be manually changed or moved to different pricelevels.

In the example of FIG. 4, the price movement indicators are shown byhighlighting the entire row of a price level, while placing a shadow boxbehind the level as to differentiate between the surrounding pricelevels. It should also be understood that the price movement indicatorsassociated with price levels “30”, “35”, and “40” could be displayed ina variety of other ways or at other price levels on trading screen 400.For example, price movement indicators could be displayed by placing aborder only around the price level or some other item of interest,changing the color of the price level based on the movement of themarket or the relative position to the inside market, or even boldingthe price and bid/ask values.

In another example embodiment, a trader may configure the trading screento automatically place price movement indicators on the trading screen.For example, if a user-placed price movement indicator were to shift outof the visible space of the trading screen, the configured tradingscreen could automatically associate a price movement indicator withanother price level. Additionally, the trader may then select the pricemovement indicators or possibly move the price movement indicators toanother desired price level on the configured trading screen. Thisfeature, along with other options could be configurable by the trader.

FIG. 4 also displays another type of indicator, market movementindicators 424 and 426. In addition to watching the price movementindicators and the inside market to determine if the market has moved upor down, a trader can quickly view a change in the market by watchingthe market movement indicators 424 and 426. While FIG. 4 displays arrowscorresponding to both market movement indicators 424 and 426, only oneof them could be displayed to indicate if the market has moved up ordown, respectively. Alternatively, as displayed in FIG. 4, two arrowscould be displayed, but only one could be highlighted to indicate thedirection of the market. The market movement indicators 424 and 426 helpthe trader to easily see the direction of the market movements, such asif the current inside market prices have shifted up or downcorresponding to the previous inside market prices. The market movementindicators 424 and 426 provide a trader with more information regardingthe current market conditions. With that added information, a trader canmake a more knowledgeable decision about where and when to placesubsequent orders in the market.

To enter an order using the trading screen 400, a trader can preset adefault quantity at 416 using quantity selection buttons 418, and thenuse an input device to select a cell in the bid or ask columns, 404 and406 respectively, corresponding to a desired price level along the valueaxis 402. For example, if a location in the cell of the bid column 404associated with the price level of “30” is selected, then a buy orderhaving an order quantity of 10 (determined based on the default quantityshown at 416) would be automatically entered. A working order icon 410,would then be displayed in the working order column 408. A trader couldsimilarly enter a sell order by selecting a location in the cell of theask column 406 associated with the desired price level along the valueaxis 402.

According to one example embodiment, a mouse input device could be usedto position a cursor over the location or cell and upon selection of themouse button (either upon the down stroke of the mouse button or uponrelease of the button, however programmed) an order may be submitted forprocessing by the trading application. In the example embodimentsdescribed above, a trader could distinguish a buy order from a sellorder by selecting a location in either the bid column 404 or the askcolumn 406, respectively. In another example embodiment, buttons on theinput device could be programmed so that when a particular button ispressed, it sends a buy order, and when another button is pressed, itsends a sell order.

In yet another example embodiment, the mouse input device could be usedto position a cursor over the location or cell and lock onto the desiredprice level along the value axis 402. As the value axis 402 moves up ordown, the mouse cursor would move in relation to the desired price levelthat was selected by the trader. This feature may be useful for a traderas market data is updated on the trading screen 400 quickly to reflectfast changes in the market, and therefore, prices move and change at arapid pace. More often than not, it is up to the trader to quickly andaccurately move the mouse cursor to a desired price level to place anorder, which can sometimes be difficult in a rapidly moving market. Theability to lock onto a desired price level with a mouse cursor willincrease the chance of placing an order at the desired price level. Thisfunctionality is described in further detail in U.S. Pat. No. 7,908,570,issued on Mar. 15, 2011 and entitled, “Method and System for Displayinga Cursor on a Trading Screen,” the contents of which are incorporatedherein by reference.

According to another example embodiment, a keyboard may have keys thatare associated with the price levels displayed on the trading screen400, and a trader may initiate an order by selecting a key.Alternatively, a trader may lock onto or select a specific price levelon the trading screen using one or more keys on a keyboard. When themarket shifts, the trader-selected price will move along with itallowing the trader to see which direction the market shifted, as wellas track the trader-selected price.

According to the example embodiment, regardless of the type of inputdevice used, mouse or keyboard, before an order is sent to an electronicexchange, different applications, such as a risk management tool, or yetsome other application, could be programmed to process the order andprevent the order from being sent the exchange if certain criteriaoccur.

VI. View of an Example Trading Screen after the Market has Moved

As the market moves, the user-placed (or automatically placed) pricemovement indicators shift with the pre-selected price levels so thetrader can predictably follow the flow of the market and the specificprice levels. In other words, when the price movement indicators shiftdown, the market has moved up in value; when the price movementindicators shift up, the market has moved down in value. Preferably, byalways operating in this fashion, the trader can learn to recognize thechanges in the market.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a view of trading screen 500 withmultiple user-placed price movement indicators after the market hasshifted up. Trading screen 500 is the same as trading screen 400 shownin FIG. 4, but the market has changed from time “1” (shown in FIG. 4) totime “2” (shown in FIG. 5). The inside market on trading screen 500shown in FIG. 5 now corresponds to the best bid and best ask of “34” and“35”, respectively. Using the user-placed price movement indicatorsstill associated with the price levels of “30”, “35”, and “40” asreference points, the trader can easily recognize that the market hasshifted up from the previous inside market prices of “32” and “33” shownin FIG. 4. As previously mentioned, if the user-placed price movementindicators were to shift out of the visible space of the trading screen,a trader could simply select another price level, or configure thetrading screen to automatically place another price movement indicatoron the trading screen. The trader could then move the price movementindicator to a desired price level.

As the market conditions of the tradeable object have changed, thetrader will also notice that the best bid and best ask quantityindicators have remained located in the center of the trading screen,even though the market has moved up in value. Further, using the tradingscreen 500, a trader can view how much quantity is now available atvarious price levels. For example, following the best bid and the bestask, there is a bid quantity of 30 at the price level of “33”, and anask quantity of 17 at the price level of “36”. Other levels of marketdepth are also shown, as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Trading screen 500 in FIG. 5 also includes market movement indicators524 and 526. As shown in FIG. 5, market movement indicator 524 is nowhighlighted to indicate that the current market has moved up. The insidemarket was previously located at the price levels of the best bid, “32”,and the best ask, “33”, in FIG. 4, but when compared to the tradingscreen in FIG. 5, the trader will see that the market shown in tradingscreen 500 has shifted up two prices levels to “34” and “35”, therefore,the market movement indicator 524 is highlighted to indicate this shiftto the trader. Likewise, if the current market had moved down, marketmovement indicator 526 would be highlighted.

One skilled in the art of trading in an electronic trading environmentwill understand that the example embodiments are not limited to anyparticular type of indicator to be used to indicate the direction ofmarket movement, and that any indicator could be used to alert thetrader in which direction the market has fluctuated. For example, anaudio alert could be sounded or a visual alert could be displayed on thescreen. It should also be understood that the example embodiments arenot limited to a particular number of price movement indicators or thatthe price movement indicators are limited to specific price levels. Forexample, price movement indicators may be displayed at price levels inmultiples of 5, such as at price levels of “25”, “30”, “35”, and so on.

There could be circumstances where, based on the market data, the bestbid and best ask quantity indicators would not be located at pricelevels next to each other on the value axis, such that there is a gapbetween the inside market price levels. Rather than displaying the gapbetween the current inside market prices and trying to center the pricesat or around the center of the trading screen, a trader may wish to viewthe inside market indicators as if there were no gaps in the market.FIG. 6 is a view of a trading screen where a gap in the inside market iscollapsed. Collapsing the gap between the best bid price and the bestask price allows for more of the market depth to be visible to thetrader. Additionally, by collapsing the inside market price levels, themarket can be maintained in the center portion of the screen (or nearcenter).

A trader may configure the trading screen to collapse other gaps betweenprices in the market. For example, the gap displayed between the pricesof “30” and “32” on the value axis 602, could be collapsed such that theprice level of “31” would not be displayed. Alternatively, although notshown in FIG. 6, the gaps could be collapsed until there was a tradeablequantity associated with that price that would consequently trigger adisplay of the price indicators along the value axis 602. For example,the price level of “31” would be collapsed until there was a tradeablequantity associated with it.

As previously mentioned, a trader may also configure the trading screento allow the trader to expand or collapse the gaps at any time. Forexample, a trader could simply select any where on the center line 628,and the prices without any associated quantity, price levels “34”, “35”,and “36” on the value axis 602, would be expanded and displayed. Oncethe prices without any associated quantity are displayed, the tradercould enter an order into the market at those prices.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a view of a trading screen afterthe center line displayed in FIG. 6 is selected, and the gap in theinside market has been expanded. As with the previous figures, thetrader can quickly locate the inside market on the trading screen 700shown in FIG. 7. The inside market, which in the example shown in FIG. 7now corresponds to the best bid price of “33” with a quantity of 11 andbest ask price of “36” with a quantity of 27, therefore creating a gapin the best bid and best ask price. Further, using the trading screen700, a trader can tell that, while not displayed at the center of thetrading screen, the inside market will still be located relative to thecenter of the trading screen 600.

According to another example embodiment, instead of displaying the bestbid quantity indicator and the best ask quantity indicator around thecenter of the trading screen, the trader could configure the tradingscreen to simply display either the best bid quantity indicator or thebest ask quantity indicator at or around the center of the tradingscreen. It should be understood that the trader could configure thetrading screen to display anything at the center, for example, the lasttraded price. FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an alternative viewof a trading screen where there is a gap between the inside marketprices. As previously described in regards to FIG. 6, there could becircumstances where, based on the market data, the best bid and best askquantity indicators would not be located at price levels next to eachother on the value axis 802, such that there is a gap in the insidemarket price levels.

Referring to FIG. 8, best bid quantity indicator 828, is centered on thetrading screen, while the remaining market data in the value axis 802,bid and ask columns 804 and 806, respectively, are displayed relative tothe best bid quantity indicator 828. As with the previous exampleembodiments, the prices in the value axis 802 move up or down based onthe current market conditions, while the selected item of interest, herethe best bid quantity indicator 828, remains displayed in a constantposition on the trading screen, shown in FIG. 8 at the center of thetrading screen. Likewise, the best ask quantity indicator 830 could becentered on the trading screen and the remaining market data could beshifted down and displayed relative to the best ask quantity indicator830.

CONCLUSION

The example embodiments discussed above described a trading screen thatallow traders to place and display price movement indicators whileproviding an intuitive view of the market. To provide an intuitive view,the market is displayed in the center position (or near the centerposition) so that the market and price levels around the market can beeasily found and the price movement indicators are used to highlightmovement of the value axis. While the market remains centered, the valueaxis is shown to move relative to the static display of the market.

Along with increasing the predictability of which direction the marketis moving, price movement indicators allow the trader to track specificprice levels on the trading screen. The example embodiments also allowtraders to place an order without having a problem of the market“running away.” Thus, the trader can easily place an order at the marketor at prices around the market.

The above description of the preferred embodiments, alternativeembodiments, and specific examples, are given by way of illustration andshould not be viewed as limiting. Further, many changes andmodifications within the scope of the present embodiments may be madewithout departing from the spirit thereof, and the present inventionincludes such changes and modifications.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that methodsinvolved in the system and method for assisting a trader in placing anorder in an electronic trading environment may be embodied in a computerprogram product that includes one or more computer readable media. Forexample, a computer readable medium can include a readable memorydevice, such as a hard drive device, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a computerdiskette, having computer readable program code segments stored thereon.The computer readable medium can also include a communications ortransmission medium, such as, a bus or a communication link, eitheroptical, wired or wireless having program code segments carried thereonas digital or analog data signals.

The claims should not be read as limited to the described order orelements unless stated to that effect. Therefore, all embodiments thatcome within the scope and spirit of the following claims and equivalentsthereto are claimed as the invention.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A system including: a computing device,wherein the computing device is configured to display a price movementindicator at a location associated with a particular price level of aplurality of price levels of a dynamic price axis, wherein the pluralityof price levels of the dynamic price axis are displayed in a screenregion such that a reference price level for a tradeable object isdisplayed at a designated location that is substantially fixed in thescreen region, wherein a range for the plurality of price levels in thescreen region is changeable according to market updates for thetradeable object, and wherein, in response to updating the referenceprice level based on a new market update for the tradeable object, thecomputing device is configured to update the location of the pricemovement indicator in relation to the dynamic price axis to a newlocation in the screen region for the particular price level.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein the reference price level is based on atleast one of a last traded price, a highest bid price, and a lowest askprice.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the reference price levelincludes one of a last traded price, a highest bid price, or a lowestask price.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the designated locationcomprises substantially a center of the screen region.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to selectthe particular price level for the price movement indicator.
 6. Thesystem of claim 5, wherein the particular price level is selectedautomatically.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein the particular pricelevel is selected manually in response to an action of a user inputdevice.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device isfurther configured to select a plurality of particular price levels ofthe plurality of price levels such that the price movement indicator isdisplayed relative to each particular price level of the plurality ofparticular price levels.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computingdevice is further configured to display an order entry region comprisinga plurality of locations for receiving commands to initiate sendingtrade orders, each location of the order entry region corresponding to aprice along the dynamic price axis.
 10. The system of claim 9, whereinthe computing device is further configured to set a plurality of orderparameters for a trade order and send the trade order to an electronicexchange in response to a selection of a location in the order entryregion.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the selection is a singleaction of a user input device.
 12. The system of claim 1, wherein thecomputing device is configured to receive market updates for thetradeable object.